Safe

Cliché

Sarah gasped upon seeing you covered in mud. "Oh, my goodness. Wha- nevermind. Here." She gave you Jim's towel and ber eyes widened when she saw him. "Jim!? What on earth were you thinking?"

As if it was his fault you were wet and dirty. It sort of was.

She groaned sadly and touched your apron dress. "Oh look at your clothes. You're both absolutely drenched! Hold on, stay out here. I'll go get some more towels." She ran up the stairs.

You were turned, facing away from Jim, tugging the towel closer to you. You don't know why, it just felt awkward to see him after what happened out there.

Soon, Sarah came again and threw clean towels around you and Jim. Then she huffed and placed her hands on her hips.

"Now, come inside and sit on the stairs. You can drink your beverage there. Oh, take the dress off, dear. You can leave it hanging on the coat rack."

You let Jim walk inside first and hung the towel and attempted to slip off the dress. It wasn't easy with your shirt clinging to your skin, tightening as you tried to bend your elbows; rendering your movements a little too difficult.

Then you felt someone pull the dress over your head, and briefly you saw Jim's chest and faced the rack and muttered a thanks as he hung it for you.

You looked down at your trembling bare arms. The white shirt sleeves have become transparent with the rain and you could see your tattoos on your upper arm.

You stared longer at the skull one, and wrapped your fingers around it tightly, as if hoping it would disappear once you'd remove them. You wanted it to have never existed so you didn't have secrets endangering Jim. You finally removed it, and barely reacted when you saw the black inked image. You tugged the towel closer and went over to the stairs with your head down.

Sarah emerged from the kitchen with a tray of mugs and sat her self on the same step as you after handing you a gingerbread hot chocolate. Your favorite. Sarah must have caught you making it this morning.

The silence was awkward, and both you and Jim were still silent of what happened. With trembling hands, you lifted your warm mug and took a small sip. It did nothing to quench the feeling of embarrassment.

Sarah, apparently, had no clue and was the breaker of most of the ice and spoke about the amount of customers that came today and the dishes left to clean, while you and Jim glanced at each other and quickly looked away.

Sarah hardly took notice of this.

When Sarah finished her beverage, she stood up and faced both you and Jim. "Jim, I want you to wash the pile of dishes left in the sink before you head up to shower and bed while I finish up cleaning out herr." She pointed at you and assigned you to help her. Then she touched the side of her face and stared worriedly at the floor. "I'm afraid we're gonna have more customers tomorrow."

Jim began to protest, but Sarah held one finger up to stop him. "No complaints, Jim! Me and her both worked so hard everyday with all the customers. And consider this punishment for skipping school a few days ago -Yes. I found out by the SCHOOL that you skipped a day! Now get scrubbing, young man." Sarah sighed and took her cup into the kitchen, muttering angrily about Jim being irresponsible and leaving her to work the inn alone.

You sat quietly for a few moments. When you heard Jim begin to speak, possibly to apologize, you quickly stood and entered the kitchen.

You held your cup with both hands as you placed it near the sink. Sarah had gone to clean outside, and Jim hasn't entered yet. Probably feeling nervous to be alone with you.